Podcast: Can the No. 13 Miami Hurricanes avoid the post-Clemson hangover against Pitt?
The worst memories always tend to stick around easier, especially with regards to the Miami Hurricanes.
It’s easy to remember the end of the 2017 season, when Miami lost to the Pittsburgh Panthers in the regular-season finale and spiraled into a three-game losing streak to the year, or the end of last year, when the Hurricanes suffered a stunning upset loss to the FIU Panthers and ended the season with three consecutive losses, including two to Conference USA opponents.
“We wear the same uniforms as the team that played last year,” coach Manny Diaz said after the Hurricanes’ 42-17 loss to the Clemson Tigers on Saturday, “but we’re not those guys.”
The first real chance to prove this comes Saturday, when No. 13 Miami hosts Pittsburgh at Hard Rock Stadium. On a new episode of the Eye on the U podcast, David Wilson and Susan Miller Degnan, the Hurricanes beat writer for the Miami Herald, talk through their complicated feelings and expectations for what they expect from the Hurricanes (3-1, 2-1 Atlantic Coast) this weekend.
The bigger issue, though, is the simple question of whether Clemson exposed Miami. All the flaws bubbling around the fringes of the Hurricanes’ impressive three-game start were highlighted by the No. 1 Tigers and Miami suffered its most lopsided loss since the 2018 Pinstripe Bowl against the Wisconsin Badgers.
Clemson put together a blueprint for how to slow down quarterback D’Eriq King, offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee and the Hurricanes, and the Panthers will try to follow it. It will be up to Miami to find some counters, with or without injured tight end Brevin Jordan.
For the first time since arriving in Coral Gables, King and Lashlee are facing some adversity, and the Hurricanes can prove they’re not the same old Miami by bouncing back against Pittsburgh in Miami Gardens.
